40 Do you know my work?
40 你知道我的工作吗?
One midnight a hotel caught fire because of electrical machine, and the people who were staying in it struggled to run out in their night gowns.
午夜时分,一家旅馆因电器着火了,住在里面的人们穿着睡衣就出来了。
Two men stayed outside and looked at the flame.
两个人站在旅馆外面看着大火。
“Before I came out,” said the man with a towel around his waist, “I ran into some of the suites and found a lot of money. The majority of people don't think of money when they are afraid. When anyone exposes paper currencies in the fire, the fire burns it. So I took all the bills that I could find. No one will be poorer although I took them.”
“我跑出来前,”腰上裹着一条毛巾的人说,“冲进几个房间发现了不少钱。大多数人在害怕的时候往往想不到钱。纸币落在火里就会被烧掉,于是我把能找到的这些钱都拿出来了。没人会因为我拿了这些钱而变穷。”
“You don't know my work,” said the other.
“你不知道我是干什么的。”另一个人说。
“What is your work? A fire fighter?”
“你的工作是什么?消防员吗?”
“No, I'm a policeman.”
“不。我是警察。”
“Oh,” cried the first man. He thought quickly and said, “And do you know my work?”
“哦。”第一个人叫道。他很快地想了一下说,“你知道我是干什么的吗?”
“No.” said the policeman.
“不知道。”警察说。
“I'm a novelist, and I'm always telling stories about things that never happened.”
“我是个小说家,我总是讲一些从没发生过的故事。”